The City of Fredericton is the latest Maritime town to receive funding from Ottawa to accelerate the building of 287 homes over the next three years, but officials admit there could be some challenges actually getting them built.
There are thousands of vacancies in the construction and building industries across the country and Mayor Kate Rogers says Fredericton isn’t immune.
“We have thousands of units that have already been approved that aren't being built because people aren't able to get the trades to do it,” she said. “And every week that you don't build in this country, in this continent, inflation, you know, the price goes up. That is the truth. Inflation really, really hits the cost of these projects. So they're both huge concerns for us.”
In an emailed statement from the New Brunswick government, a spokesperson confirmed there are labour and cost pressures which have “limited the market’s ability to respond to changing preferences in housing and the lack of supply to meet demand.”
But they also noted the province is working closely with the modular industry – which is robust in New Brunswick - to grow its affordable housing supply.
“The Department of Post Secondary Education, Training, and Labour (PETL) is also undertaking an initiative to identify 10,000 new skilled international workers over 10 years that could come to the province to assist address housing challenges,” wrote department spokesperson Rebecca Howland.
Rogers says she has been assured the province is working on the labour shortage.
“The pipeline of people working in the trades really needs to be enhanced and I know the province is looking at that through some of its training institutes,” she said. “It’s a real pressure, it is a very, very real pressure in Fredericton.”
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin announced the $10.3 million allotted for the city to begin building the 287 homes, and feels it isn’t a pipe dream – so long as everyone works together.
“We've had many roundtables with different stakeholders and it certainly came up as an issue and I know it's something the department is looking very closely at to develop a special stream, with different incentives,” she explained. “So, we're on it as a team but again as we roll out this money across the country to respond to the housing crisis, we are certainly concerned. But I think again with our strong partnerships, we're all going to put our heads together and ensure that the building developments continue without a hitch.”
The City of Fredericton clarified that rapid growth isn’t new to the community – 3,500 new homes have already been built in the past five years.
Canada’s Mortgage and Housing Corporation has said the country will need 3.5 to four million more homes within the next six years to meet the demand.
